From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 11232c,c4ac8be162bc5e3 X-Google-Attributes: gid11232c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,41100a78496a4c71 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-04-03 22:10:22 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!212.177.105.133!news.mailgate.org!mygate.mailgate.org!198.207.153.205!not-for-mail From: "Kent Paul Dolan" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,misc.misc Subject: Re: Nethack! (was): AdaGames Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 06:10:21 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG Message-ID: <5e5278f0957b5b5b7dbff004eb0704cf.48257@mygate.mailgate.org> References: <98104da8.0203280310.143a1c18@posting.google.com> <4519e058.0203290613.73b55af4@posting.google.com> <6g4gaugv9a85i56kvgcgmu4h2jkjprutec@4ax.com> <4519e058.0204010704.ed2cd06@posting.google.com> <4519e058.0204021030.14127b06@posting.google.com> <4519e058.0204030706.7bd0ed6c@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 198.207.153.205 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: news.mailgate.org 1017900044 25527 198.207.153.205 (Thu Apr 4 08:10:21 2002) X-Complaints-To: abuse@mailgate.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 06:10:21 +0000 (UTC) Injector-Info: news.mailgate.org; posting-host=198.207.153.205; posting-account=48257; posting-date=1017900044 User-Agent: Mailgate Web Server X-URL: http://mygate.mailgate.org/mynews/comp/comp.lang.ada/5e5278f0957b5b5b7dbff004eb0704cf.48257%40mygate.mailgate.org Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:22080 misc.misc:6076 Date: 2002-04-04T06:10:21+00:00 List-Id: "Marin David Condic" wrote: > And, of course, why bother? A C program translated directly into Ada doesn't > really buy you much. Its still the same program with the same features. What > is more interesting is to examine what the program does and possibly utilize > that as a basis for developing a new & more interesting program. Which misses the point by a barn-width. The goal is to imitate the success cheesy text-graphics games (see also Empire) had in attracting lots of the best and brightest programmers to choose to program in C, back when Pascal was a lot easier to comprehend, and was the teaching langauge of choice. So _precisely_ re-implementing all the current intellectual endeavor invested in Nethack is a fine way to re-implement what we really want to re-implement -- an enthusiasm attractor. The content doesn't matter except that Nethack has already proved its worth and trying to reinvent whatever made Nethack _work_ as an enthusiasm attractor is arguably a much harder intellectual chore than "merely" re-implementing Nethack. xanthian. Since porting to Ada would put Nethack into a language where the kind of generics invented in Nethack are naturally implemented as a part of the language instead of welded into place with ad hoc structures and concepts, for example, making new, glitzy, ego-satisfying extensions by students doable by students with a wider range of abilities. -- Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG